As Trump Moves to War Footing, The Focus Moves to the Midterms

The storylines in this ugly political farce are all moving at rapid speed into a November confrontation.

First, Trump and his administration have moved from legal cooperation with the Mueller probe to political war against it. Their calculation is that they cannot escape culpability in the investigation and will not escape purely legal accountability. But if they can keep their base hostile and riled up against it, they can withstand even an impeachment in the House to live and fight another day. There are even some feelings within the White House that it would be better to keep the investigation going as long as possible to keep the information within the probe out of the spotlight while maintaining the impression of a persecution.

House Republicans led by Paul Ryan and Devin Nunes are in a winner-take-all battle with the FBI, with the end result that either Nunes will be investigated and likely found guilty of obstruction of justice, or Rosenstein and other law enforcement officials will be fired or even impeached.